March 1st-July 31st Devil's Head Rock & Recovery Wall are closed for raptor protection. The vast majority of the other crags are unaffected by the closure.Please visit: fs.usda.gov/alerts/psicc/alert...For additional information and maps.

This information is a public crowdsourcing effort between the Access Fund,
and Mountain Project.You should confirm closures, restrictions, and/or related dates.

Description

The Training Grounds is located in the lower west valley of the Devil's Head area. It contains 6 routes at present, all easier than 5.10. The wall faces east which provides morning sun or afternoon shade. The wall is about 50' high and well featured with chickenheads and incut holds. This is a great place for the novice leader.

Getting There

Park at the regular fire tower trailhead. Hike the trail to just before the bridge and pass behind a log fence onto another trail on the right. This is the old trail to the fire tower. After hiking approximately ten minutes, and after a big switchback, look for a another trail on the right which heads south. This trail is marked by some cairins and logs. Another 5 minutes of hiking will take you up over a pass. From here, the trail descends to the south. A fork marked with signs pointing to the Training Grounds to the right and Chickenhead Ranch to the left will soon be reached. Head to the right, uphill, on a trail marked with cairins. The Training Grounds will be on your left. After reaching a level pass head left, next to the rock, to the start of the routes.

Follow the 2nd bolt line from the right. Short cruxes are encountered at the overhangs which are easier if tall (still fun for the small though). Head up the face aiming for the center of a small arch. The yellow lichen bulge is the first difficulty, then pull over the arch onto really cool chicken heads, and head up and slightly right to a shared anchor. Clipping the anchor is probably the real crux, since everything is a little sloping and insecure (compared to all the in-cut holds to whic...[more]Browse More Classics in CO

The "Getting There" beta is very good, we had no trouble finding the crag. However some of the time/distance estimates seem a bit long: total hike in for us was about 25 minutes, out in 20. Beautiful hike through an aspen forest on an easy to follow trail.

We were a little confused as we found a couple of sport routes on the back-side of The Training Grounds before finding the main wall. Considerably steeper and in the morning shade.